There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Versatility
Mardu Vehicles is at its core a colorless deck. The two main threats are Scrapheap Scrounger and Heart of Kiran (the deck previously used the “fair” magic card Smuggler’s Copter). This gives us a unique opportunity to build the deck with cards from any color, as long as your mana base can support it. Kaladesh opened the door to this type of deck building in aggro strategies with the release of its own version of dual lands, often referred to as “fast lands”.
The deck operates on three different angles, creatures, vehicles and planeswalkers. It becomes really difficult for your opponent to draw the correct answer for your threats when they only have five or six turns to do so. If unanswered, threats like everyone’s favorite planeswalker Gideon, Ally of Zendikar will rapidly end the game.
Over the last six months, there have been many iterations of the deck. Each modification made to the deck came about to beat a new top tier deck. While the card pool in standard is limited, it offered enough solutions to make Mardu a strong contender in a diverse format.
Mardu Ballista
This is where the first big adjustment came in for Mardu Vehicles. In order to have more answers to Felidar/Saheeli combo, Mardu Vehicles started playing more copies of Thalia, Heretic Cathar and brought in Walking Ballista. It allowed the deck to have more ways to stop the combo in game 1. Those changes did slow the deck down a bit but it was a small price to pay considering the situation.
While testing for PT Aether Revolt, I couldn't find a way to beat BG Constrictor with Mardu. You could get the occasional game where you curved out to punish a bad hand but in general, the matchup was terrible. The winner of GP Utretcht 2017 Samuel Vuillot had an amazing sideboard plan that worked both in the mirror and against BG Constrictor. The plan was to board out most of your creatures and artifacts, and bring in planeswalkers and removal spells.
This led to GP New Jersey 2017 were only 2 decks emerged as Tier 1, Mardu Ballista and 4-Color Saheeli. The interaction between Felidar Guardian and Saheeli Rai was judged too powerful and was eventually banned.
The recent change to the banlist coupled with the addition of Amonkhet as a standard legal set brought two new enemies to the format, Temur Aetherworks Marvel and Mono Black Zombies.
Esper Vehicles
Leading up to Grand Prix Montreal 2017, my buddy Pascal Maynard built a vehicle deck that also relies on counterspells. The goal here was to have a better matchup against the best deck in standard Aetherworks Marvel. The deck focused on putting early pressure with creatures or vehicles, then sitting back with a Metallic Rebuke or Spell Queller in hand for their turn four Marvel. The deck excelled in that aspect. My win rate against decks that tried to cast a 10/10 indestructible creature on turn four was over 70 %. The problem with this build is that it was still weak to Black Green Energy and Mono Black Zombies. In our testing, one of the ways Mardu could beat the Zombies deck was to attack in the air with flying creatures, mainly Heart of Kiran and Archangel Avacyn. Adding in Eldrazi Skyspawner helped complement this goal. It felt like a perfect fit since it also crews Heart of Kiran on its own (2/1 plus the 1/1 Eldrazi Scion) and offered a way to make Avacyn transform on demand. One way to beat creature-based decks is to play board sweeper. In addition to Fumigate, we tried Dusk // Dawn in the sideboard. When I played against BG Energy, the card was really good. It synergized well with Spell Queller (as opposed to Fumigate) and the Aftermath part of the card often gave me extra value. I had mixed results with Dusk // Dawn against Zombies deck. Sometimes I would destroy all of their creatures and I would go on to win the game, but I also had games where I faced an army of 2/2’s and all I could do was stare at my empty board with a Dusk in hand.
In the end, I chose not to play this deck at the Grand Prix because I couldn't bring its bad matchups closer to 50% even after sideboard. I ended up playing 8 rounds of mirror matches against Aetherworks Marvel in Montréal. In both GPs that weekend, three Temur Marvel decks reached top 8 proving that even if the deck has more variance than other solid decks, it still is the best deck right now. Mardu (Blue) Vehicles
Jeskai Vehicles
I’ve played many games against established decks with this list and it had impressive results. As expected, you retain your best matchup in Aetherworks Marvel but Zombies and BG Energy/Constrictor become closer to 50%. The way I would build a solid Vehicles deck would be to beat the most popular deck in the format in game 1, while sacrificing a couple of percentage point in other matchups, but having access to a well thought out sideboard plan.
As of today, here is my sideboard plan for the five archetypes that are more commonly played in standard. I’m still in the testing phase to see if certain sideboard cards are good in specific matchups so feel free to improve on my sideboard plan.
Aetherworks Marvel
+2 Metallic Rebuke, +1 Ceremonious Rejection, +1 Release the Gremlins, +1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
-3 Harnessed Lightning, -2 Aethersphere Harvester
BG Constrictor/Energy
+2 Nahiri, the Harbinger, +2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +2 Cut // Ribbons, +1 Oath of Chandra, +2 Fumigate, +1 Release the Gremlins
-4 Toolcraft Exemplar, -4 Spell Queller, -1 Archangel Avacyn, -1 Heart of Kiran
Mardu Vehicles
+2 Nahiri, the Harbinger, +2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +1 Ceremonious Rejection, +1 Release the Gremlins
-2 Metallic Rebuke, -4 Spell Queller
Mono Black Zombies
+2 Nahiri, the Harbinger, +2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +2 Cut // Ribbons, +1 Oath of Chandra, +2 Fumigate, +1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, +1 Radiant Flames
-4 Toolcraft Exemplar, -1 Scrapheap Scrounger, -2 Metallic Rebuke, -4 Spell Queller
UR Control
+1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, +2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, +2 Cut // Ribbons
-4 Harnessed Lightning, -1 Metallic Rebuke
Thanks for reading, and please post any questions or feedback below!
We had an exciting reveal of two Amonkhet masterpieces , check out the video here: https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1482/scouting-report-massdrop-east-west-on-2-amonkhet-masterpieces
If you are curious about our team, check out our intro: https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1117/announcing-team-massdrop-east-west or, read our previous weekly articles:
1. How to Prepare for an MtG Pro Tour by Ben Weitz (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1158/how-to-prepare-for-an-mt-g-pro-tour)
2. Approaching New Magic Drafts by Ari Lax (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1193/approaching-new-magic-drafts)
3. Constructed Testing for Pro Tour Aether Revolt by Jarvis Yu (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1213/recap-of-constructed-testing-for-massdrop-east-west-for-pro-tour-aether-revolt)
4. Breaking into Eternal Formats - Case Study: GP Louisville by Jon Stern (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1240/breaking-into-eternal-formats-case-study-gp-louisville-massdrop-east-west-article-4)
5. In Good Company - Top 8 at GP Vancouver by Eric Severson (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1285/in-good-company-top-8-at-gp-vancouver)
6. Adapting to Full Block Kaladesh Limited by Jiachen Tao (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1323/adapting-to-full-block-kaladesh-limited-massdrop-east-west-article-6)
7. Sorry My Felidar Guardian Ate My Homework by Mark Jacobson (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1364/sorry-my-felidar-guardian-ate-my-homework-massdrop-east-west-article-7)
8. Taking a Mardu Vacation - Top 8 in New Jersey and Heading to an Eternal Extravaganza by Jarvis Yu (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1401/taking-a-mardu-vacation-top-8-in-new-jersey-and-heading-to-an-eternal-extravaganza-massdrop-east-wes)
9. A Guide to the Grind by Pascal Maynard (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1448/a-guide-to-the-grind-massdrop-east-west-article-9)
10. Asking Aggro-vating Questions by Timothy Wu (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1493/asking-aggro-vating-questions-massdrop-east-west-article-10)
11. The Meat and Potatoes of Jund by Paul Dean (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1534/the-meat-and-potatoes-of-jund)
12. Hidden Values in Magic: The Gathering for Kids and Parents by Scott Lipp (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1572/hidden-values-in-magic-the-gathering-for-kids-and-parents-massdrop-east-west-article-12)
13. The Importance of Preparation in Competitive Magic: The Gathering by Ricky Chin (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1606/the-importance-of-preparation-in-competitive-magic-the-gathering-massdrop-east-west-article-13)
14. How to Find Amonkhet's Star Players by Ari Lax (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1643/how-to-find-amonkhets-star-players-massdrop-east-west-article-14)
15. Top is No Longer on Top by Jarvis Yu (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1692/top-is-no-longer-on-top-massdrop-east-west-article-15)
16. Casual Multiplayer Fun by JC Tao (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1731/casual-multiplayer-fun-bang-magic)
17. Monoblack Zombies at Pro Tour Amonkhet by Eric Severson (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1764/monoblack-zombies-at-pro-tour-amonkhet)
18. To Puzzle or to Puzzleknot by Paul Dean (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1793/to-puzzle-or-to-puzzleknot)